2023 Kia Soul EV Review

2021 2022. I mean essentially, if an automaker is not introducing or talking about a new electric vehicle, they might as well be just packing up their things, closing up shop, and you know getting out of Dodge yeah. It kind of fits it um and the thing with the news is, I mean besides the regulations and the requirements and like the Canadian government saying that you know 20 of all, new car sales have to be EVS by 2026 or doesnt, which doesnt seem realistic. To me at least not in early 2023, less than three years from now at this point, um what were usually reading about is giant screens, massive Tech, big Power, huge range and and overly priced vehicles and and its kind of funny that my first press unit for 2023 happens to be this. This is one of the few for the moment. Peoples EVS, because theyre, affordable and theyre easy to use and very user friendly, thats easy to use user friendly. I got this um and uh its been a very revealing week, because not only well am I reviewing this Im actually doing something else which isnt exactly working out. The way I had planned, but in a nutshell, in late 2022, I purchased a portable level 2 charger which you can plug into into a 220 240 volt outlet and plug with level two capability. Any EV – and this happened to be the first EV – that Im driving with this portable level, 2 charger and its been well its its been mind expanding as far as experience is concerned, because up until then, all I had was my 110 plug with the portable cable That you usually get with the vehicle in order to charge the car which we know can even for a battery the size of the soles which Ill tell you more about in a few moments.

I can take not hours but almost days, which is kind of insane when you think about it. Um well, Im Im discovering the more EVS that I drive, and this applies to most Auto journalists. I suppose the more EVS you drive, the more we get into the mind frame of more than just driving and reviewing the EVS, but owning them and thats, where this level 2 charger really comes in, and it has effectively enabled me to discover what well, in this Case the Kia Soul can actually do when charging or how you can actually make it work. I said mind expanding and it really is that and because this isnt a Porsche tycon or Mercedes Benz eqs or something like that, its all the more relevant, I believe for you for me and for the very vast majority of us people looking for affordable, efficient Mobility, Because, as far as the EVS are concerned, there are very few in Canada because this is not available in the US that beat the Kia Soul Isnt that cool a little piece of trivia right there um this isnt new there isnt anything new, not since 2020. Anyhow, with the soul Eevee, but still, I think, uh as an electric vehicle, it has so much going for it, starting with the design which the sole has always been cool uh, since the day it hit the road. Has it been over a decade, I think. Has it been a decade anyway, so in the following review video, what were going to do is uh the quick walk around and then a drive and Ill touch on a few other things that just make this EV so so relevant.

I guess thats really the word that I need to be using. So here we go now one of the first things I came across when wanting to recharge the soul EV and this ones kind of obvious, but uh, is that any automaker that puts a charge port door on the front bumper or anywhere near the front theyre doing It absolutely completely wrong. Now I tried to shoot a video of me taking or breaking off this the ice and slush crust all along the front bumper. I have about three minutes of footage, but theres a little bit too much cursing going on. I might be able to edit a little piece just to show you what it was like. I mean its obvious, but – and I said this before I know like the G80 electrified sedan has the same thing – a front mounted charge port and its just a complete mistake. I mean any automaker that puts it on the side in the front or whatever I mean on the side in the front or in the rear, theyre doing it right. This is a massive mistake and uh yeah fine. If you live below the snow belt – okay, maybe but anyway, this isnt available in the US uh. But the point is that Winters are no longer the winters we used to know theyre, just catastrophes waiting to happen so theres theres, no reason for that. Next Generation. Im sure of of all EVS, they wont, have charge port doors in the front thats a big, No, No okay, so uh kind of repeating myself, but there was there, is no or there hasnt been a soul, Eevee sold in the U.

S since 2019. So this is the severely updated 2020 version so of the second generation Soul um. So pricing in Canada is its quite simple. Forty three thousand zero. Ninety five dollars for the base model: 52 000, which is the premiere and the upper trim, which is the limited. Fifty two thousand zero ninety five dollars and thats the model youre looking at right here, uh standard features well, theyre, all there I mean 10 and a quarter inch. Touchscreen navigation, Apple, carplay, Android, auto 17 inch wheels, LED lights, heated steering, wheel, front seats, uh thats, all in the base vehicle. Now, in my limited here you get leather seats, cooled front seats as well as well as rear heated seats, theres a heat pump, which is a huge Advantage, a Harman, Kardon audio and a sunroof, and the big differences are the larger battery and the more powerful electric Motors Ill tell you a bit more about that once we get inside and by the way there are only four colors if Im not mistaken, for the vehicle. This is Neptune blue, and it is by far the most interesting and appealing color of well of the ones available for the soul. I mean weve already done one lap and its just a very cool uh crossover vehicle. Every angle is just neat its its not unique because theres so many at least in Quebec. This thing is selling extremely well and always has relatively speaking, uh. Do the quick, usual tour open up the trunk Kia says that this is uh 663 liters of boot space.

There is room under here considerable amount of fact, um but 663 seems a little bit exaggerated. I mean there is no depth to it and the width is fairly limited um, but you know its still usable. I did go to Costco and it all fit and I did buy TP and stuff, so maybe too much information there, sorry about that and it is serving as the family, hauling vehicle and its working out. Just fine. I mean its not exactly the biggest vehicle, but you already knew that so Im, just more or less repeating stuff that youve read before and Ive reviewed this vehicle, not the electric one in the past or maybe I have drive too many cars thats a problem eh, But it all as always, look its the attention to detail in the Kia products, although this is clearly a little bit some of the older, you know, touch surfaces and design features, and I mean you: dont have a flat dual screen like most of them do now, But even so, and these seats are generally comfortable and its got the power lumbar support which doesnt do much but its there uh, I guess we can roll in at this point, foreign have a little digital readout. There lets start it up. I mean its fairly straightforward in here. There goes another soul, I dont know if you saw that in the top right of your corner, uh the screen and its kind of funny um yeah steering wheels good grip.

The controls are very straightforward. It might be a little bit too big, but whatever that works uh the 10 and a quarter inch screen is responsive. The menus are all there. Its very easy Im going to get back to this. In a moment, storage is decent, decent have been decent. What else can I say, oh yeah, so you have your drive modes here, just just to show you so Im pressing the button, so you have Eco plus, if you hold its sport, normal Ive been driving an Eco almost exclusively and also I dont know. If you can hear that well, maybe not because the musics on I just realized when you go into Eco, it modifies the HVAC settings, nothing crazy, fancy here, um, one of the things that I did discover is because I have a portable level 2 charger. I cant program the charger to start at some time or do other things, but the sole and most EVS. You can actually do that already. So what Ive done is Ive scheduled in when the vehicle can charge Ive scheduled a climate upon. You know before startup its very, very simple: you can do this easily. I mean you dont need an intelligent charger, although there are advantages – and I am personally looking forward to finding out more about that – but most cars have well. I want to say all EVS. Have these functionalities just going back, I dont know what else is there to show there isnt much? I mean its very straightforward, uh Kia connect.

I wish I could use, but I dont have a code to actually set it up completely point. Is this youve seen Ive reviewed a number of Kia and Hyundai products in the recent weeks in the last few weeks, I should say – and this is Top Notch just before we move to the driving portion – these are the paddles for the regen braking and there you Go, oh, I dont know if you saw that maybe you did but the battery is at 95 percent and I have an indicated 322 kilometers of range now so a year ago, Ill elaborate on that as of right now, okay, so the main reason why you select The soul EV limited over the premium is for the larger battery and the more powerful electric motor. Now the battery difference is in the base premium. You got a ‘.2 kilowatt hour unit, whereas in this one you get a 64 kilowatt kilowatt hour. Battery difference in range on paper is considerable: youre, looking at 248 kilometers with a smaller battery and up to 383 with the larger one you know, as you just saw, I mean on a 95 state of charge, Im at 322, kilometers and um for all intensive purposes. I only plugged it in twice Ive been driving, it well hard Im kind of addicted to electrons, so I usually exaggerate when it comes to driving EVS, especially now with the portable charger, its going to be terrible Ill, never average, the you know, indicated efficiency, but the The point is uh, even in temperatures such as right now were in the 10 closing between 5 and minus 10 degrees Celsius and uh with 322 indicated.

I I firmly believe that 383 is real. There is one big difference going on too now I mean there is very little snow on the I mean on the roads, so maybe a little bit more wheel, spin, slightly more aggressive driving and temperatures that could easily drop to 20 will affect the battery, but Im. I want to say that theres no need to worry the battery range or efficiency shouldnt. Based on what Im experiencing you know, you shouldnt get more than say a 20 percent range loss from 380 kilometers. But if you factor in that 20 to the 248, then that becomes a little bit more of an issue because then youre hovering. You know in 200 kilometers of full range. It might be a little bit sketch. Another reason why you know Im enjoying this quite a bit is that it has a 201 horsepower electric motor, as opposed to the standard or base 134 horsepower. Electric motor both have 291 pound feet of torque, which come in at slightly different speeds um. But this as with all EVS, the instant torque is just so much fun and when Road surface is a little slippery, the front wheels spin a lot what um on board 7.2 kilowatt charger. So, with the level 2 charger which is capable, I think its 7.4 kilowatts uh Logan overnight charge is an easy thing, like I showed you, I said from 10 pm to 6 a.m, so off peak hours and unless Im really really low.

So in in that, like eight hour period, unless I drop to say 10 charge – and I want to bring it to up to 100 – I might not have enough with those eight hours. But Id say for 95 of occasions, where you want to charge off peak using the car to charge, I mean its its liberating in the past. What I was saying is yes, the 110 volt uh portable charger that comes with the vehicle is what I used or looked for public charging stations. Now I dont even care really, unless Im going a long road trip, which I plan to do with a very hot EV right now in the next few weeks, so well see about that um. What more can I say? I mean the ride. Quality in the sole is surprisingly good. Its got a multi link, rear suspension, its fully independent the ride quality is good. I think that the fact that it rolls on 17 inch Wheels as opposed to massive 18s uh, makes a big difference, but even so I mean this. This is fun its tossable, its shorts, Its not that heavy, I think about 4 500 pounds, which is considerably heavy for a small crossover um, but Im enjoying this a lot and with the paddle shifters I showed you so there are four regen modes essentially off one. Two and three levels, and if you pull back and hold the third pedal, you will get one pedal driving um that that was cool maybe two years ago.

But now I mean you should be able to have Max regen and the vehicle comes to a Full Stop on its own. Even in level three regen, it wont come to a Full Stop which Im gon na try and do Now quickly. Now you can feel the region kind of back off, and here I go coasting right through a um one of those weird octagonal octagonal. I cant talk red signs um, but yeah the for forty two thousand dollars the base. Soul is, I you get 95 of what you get well equipment wise anyway. Uh the extra power thats it its not neither here nor there, its its really just the range, but honestly the level 2 charger and the vast majority of driving I do it would be even for uh, 70, 75 kilometer and a Day 70 to 75 kilometer commute Daily, you could technically go two days without recharging, even in minus 20 degree weather anyhow, this. This is one of the few peoples EVS, along with the Nissan Leaf and other Kia and Hyundai EVS. I mean everything and there isnt anything else under say 60 or I mean yeah, the ionic and the ev6, but thats what I mean. Those are available um. But if you do spend the money for this, then you really are an ionic and ev6 territory, uh, which have a little bit more modernity to them.